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Want to understand what's the rush to make changes to how we manage our gardens? Watch the founder of Homegrown National Parks Doug Tallamy's video HERE.
Your private property is part of a larger ecosystem! What you grow, how you care for it, and what life it supports helps to determine the health of that larger ecosystem.
In recent years, we’ve come to realize that traditional landscaping does not provide the ecoservices that we need all landscapes to provide. These include:
support food webs by growing native plants that feed birds and insects. The leaves of non-native plants are often toxic to insects so they can’t lay their eggs on them and the emerging larvae can’t eat the leaves.
sequester carbon by growing large native trees that capture and store carbon in their tree and root systems for hundreds of years
clean and manage water by not using chemical fertilizers and pesticides, which are polluting our waterways
plant native trees and shrubs with long root systems that draw water into the soil rather than allowing it to run off into storm sewer systems (as lawn does).
support pollinators with plants and practices that restore and support their habitats.
All life, including human life, cannot survive without the little creatures that run the world. Insects:
pollinator plants, which allows them to produce the nuts and fruits that we eat
transfer energy from plants to animals, creating complex webs of interdependent species. Forexample, caterpillars eat leaves; birds and other animals eat caterpillars; and so on up the food chain.
decompose dead things, turning them into soil and other organic matter that continues the circle of life.
Good News: You can join the restoration revolution with a Healthy Yard!
By making a few changes to your landscaping practices, you can help restore ecological health to our local, shared environment.
Steps to a Healthy Yard
Speak to your landscaper about your concerns and goals for a healthier year. With some discussion we've found that many are willing to alter their service plans to accomdate.
reduce or elminate synthetic chemicals on your lawn, including fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides and fungicides
reduce leaf blowing by moving whole leaves into planting beds instead of blowingt them away for pick up
shrink your lawn where possible: lawn provides no ecological benefit
add native plants
remove invasive species, which spread rapidly, don’t support local wildlife, and crowd out and kill native species
add keystone plants, which support a huge portion of local animal species; these include oaks, and cherries (not ornamental cherries, we’re talking about native cherry species)
Reconsier your mosquito and tick fogger: the majority of products are not considered safe and the better defense is increasing the biodiversity in your garden so that mosquitoes are eaten by natural predators
modify outdoor lights to reduce their number and redirect light downward; light pollution upsets the natural rhythm of insect populations and contributes to their declining numbers.
if you see “worms” on your plants, don’t kill them! They are probably beneficial bugs, mostly likely caterpillars that may feed birds or other bugs or will eventually change into butterflies.
if you see half-eaten leaves on your plants, celebrate! That’s a sign that caterpillars and other insects are eating them—the first sign of a healthy garden.
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